Bill Hader’s 10 best performances of all time (so far)
By Rachel Roth
10. Adventureland
Original Release Date: April 3, 2009
Box Office: Grossed $17.2 million worldwide
Critical Review: Has an 88% on Rotten Tomatoes and was nominated for Best Ensemble Cast at the 19th Annual Gotham Independent Film Awards.
About the Role: For a time, Hader’s film career primarily consisted of minor supporting roles where he played oddball characters, such is the case here. In Adventureland, he plays Bobby, the assistant manager of the Adventureland theme part that he runs with his wife Paulette (Kristen Wiig).
Unfortunately, he doesn’t have a lot of screentime, but the small moments in which he appears adds a hilariously unexpected explosion of comedy in the otherwise monotone film. He goes from calm to crazy in just a few seconds like he’s got some wild beast caged underneath his horrible mustache.
Simply the Best: Adventureland is a sweet coming of age film starring a slight variation of Jesse Eisenberg’s character from Zombieland (2009). Set in the summer of 1987, Eisenberg is a recent college graduate whose parents’ sudden lack of money halts his plans of attending Columbia graduate school and becoming a journalist.
Being a trust fund kid that has never worked a day in his life, the only way he can pay for grad school is by getting a summer job at Adventureland, a run-down amusement park that pinches pennies by low-key scamming the customers. The games are rigged so no one can win and the grand prize of a giant panda is absolutely forbidden.
However, his horrible summer turns around when he meets Emily “Em” (Kristen Stewart), a troubled co-worker who he quickly falls in love with. Underneath Em’s cool, aloof demeanor is a very lonely person. She resents her father for marrying a pretentious socialite after her mother’s death and is having an affair with a married man (Ryan Reynolds). The rest of the park’s employees feel like a bunch of rowdy high schoolers who spread gossip as a form of group communication.